Flirt
by starbait
Summary: short interactions between the new farmer girl and the blacksmith apprentice down the road
1. Chapter 1

Then, it happened. She'd been distracted, trying to pull a stick caught in the pants of her overalls, when she bumped into him. Being the klutz she was, she promptly fell back onto the hard ground, but not without pulling out the stick.

"You okay?" the stranger asked, a little roughly. She looked up, dazed from the brunt of her fall, and took in his appearance. Tall, capped, average looking face but she'd be lying if she didn't admit those were beautiful eyes. After meeting them with her own, she couldn't look away. But what was with that outfit!? "Um, hello? Are you hurt?"

"I should be asking you that..." murmured Claire. Unfortunately for the slowly recovering heroine, her brain was still on autopilot and the stranger had heard.

"What? I mean, you're the one who fell."

"But you're the one who fell from heaven," slipped out from Claire's mouth. It seemed as if that was when her brain decided to stop embarrassing her, since then she immediately clamped a hand over her traitorous mouth and jumped up, bowing and sputtering out apologies. Looking up from her bow, she saw the guy remained speechless, his eyes wide, mouth still slightly open, and face the color of rubies. She straightened herself up, letting the last traces of shame trickle out of her, before offering a bashful smile along with her outstretched hand.

"I'm Claire." Slowly taking her hand, the man finally relaxed and returned her small smile with his own.

"I don't think I've seen you around before."

"Oh, I just took up the... _farm..._ here."

"Oh, you're at the farm, are you? Welcome to the boonies."

"Ooh, a fellow city person, I see. I like it. So... am I going to get your name?"

"The name's Gray. Don't wear it out."

"That's not what you'll be saying tonigh-"

* * *

Author's Note: I scrapped the original because I decided I won't be going with a plot, just playing around with a bit of dialogue from the game. The chapters will probably get shorter and shorter.


	2. Chapter 2

"What!? Explain to me what's wrong with it! Come on!"

"What's wrong with it!? The answer is inside of you! You have much to learn!"

"Um... Did I come at a wrong time?" Gray flinched at the new voice, startled, and turned, anxious to take out his anger on the intruder.

"What are _you_ looking at!? If you have nothing to do here, why don't you mind your own fu-"

"Gray! How dare you use that kind of language! Directed at a customer, no less!"

"...S-sorry."

"Welcome, Claire. Did you need something?" Claire could only nod, not wanting to admit she had only dropped in to say hi in fear of making the situation worse.

"Oh, Claire," said Gray, finally recognizing her. "...How are you doing?"

"Are you sure you should be talking to me right now? I mean you and your grandpa _both_ sounded pretty angry..." Gray snorted.

"Sorry for earlier. And about pissing him off more, I don't even care at this point." Claire only gave a meek nod, which Gray noticed and pulled his cap down over his eyes in embarrassment. "Look, I didn't mean to be rude… My grandfather was giving me a hard time. He never approves of any of my work. ...I'm ready to quit. I feel stupid, you know?"

"It's called TRAINING," she stated boldly, then promptly wincing and hoping it didn't sound as condescending to Gray as it did to her. The shocked expression he wore didn't do much to clear that up, until he replied, looking away.

"...You're right. I'm such a wimp. Sorry for complaining so much…" Gray was shocked alright, but unbeknownst to Claire, he was surprised of himself. Why was he apologizing so much? Forget that, why was he telling a practical stranger how he _felt_? Fortunately for him, Claire didn't seem to notice his inner turmoil. Unfortunately for her, she opened her mouth.

"No need to apologize, Gray. But if you ever want to quit, why don't you come live with me? I'd love to take _you_ home. I could show you a whole different kind of training." Claire looked up to see wide eyes and red cheeks.

Gray stammered, "I-I... I t-think I should just k-keep taking my chances here..." Claire nodded furiously.

"I should go!" she all but shouted, racing towards the door. Gray grabbed her wrist before she was completely out the door. She expected anything but that soft smile on his still crimson complexion.

"Thanks, Claire. I don't get what my grandfather is saying now, but I think the time will come. Just gotta keep trying," said Gray, still smiling-until he realized he was still holding onto her arm and quickly pulled away, his blush returning. Putting on his his best poker face, he mustered a quiet, "I... should go back."

"Gray?"

"I'm working now. Sorry," he said, sneaking another small smile.

Claire turned to Saibara, but all the old man who was suffering from secondhand embarrassment said was, "Ahem, there is nothing for you to do here." She walked out the door, down to the entrance of the Poultry Farm and looked around to see if anyone was nearby, before letting out a scream.

* * *

A while after, Claire realized that a branch had managed to wind up in her possession.

She found him when making her rounds at the town inn. Ann had brought up that he and Cliff were roommates, and so she decided she might as well drop in with a gift. After all, her tiny rucksack bought in the city could only hold so much! Surprisingly, the door was unlocked and she was the type to forget about knocking.

"Gray!" He looked annoyed. Was it because she didn't knock? Oops. "Gray, what's up?"

"My Grandpa is so hard on me for every little thing! I can't stand it! How can he still be so strong at his age!?" he ranted, making eye contact. He held her stunned gaze before opting to look away, opening his mouth to apologize but her mouth was faster.

"I wouldn't mind if you were so hard." If he was looking away before, his eyes were now snapping back to her and taking in how her expression morphed into pure horror. The blonde started backing up, squeaking, "You know what? I'm just going to leave, yeah, okay, bye-ahh!"

Sadly, instead of backing out the room, all Claire did was corner herself against the wall. Gray was speechless. Claire didn't think it could get any worse, so she pulled out the branch she found-or had it found her-earlier.

"F-friendship stick?" Gray, still in shock, didn't think twice about grabbing onto the offering, and Claire allowed herself to continue breathing. However, before she could let go of the branch, her mouth decided it wasn't finished humiliating her to death, and she blurted, "Look at me holding onto your stick."

With that, she finally managed to let go as if the stick turned to a hot iron and fled the room.


	3. Chapter 3

"Gray!" called Claire from all the way down the road. There was no mistaking his signature cap.

"Ah… Can I help you?" replied Gray, looking a little miffed.

"Would you?"

"Work _is_ very demanding."

"I can fulfill your demands," Claire offered.

"I'm leaving now-"

"Please?"

"... depends," he huffed. "But since you're making that face, I'm starting to lean back towards no."

"Aw, shut it!" She pouted. Why hadn't her specially planned and practiced puppy dog eyes worked?

"What is it? Make it quick."

"Take this stick!" Gray gave her a blank stare. "I don't have room for it and my farm is just _so_ far!"

"What am I, your personal garbage can?"

"No, but we can get personal if that's what you'd like!" Gray swore he just choked on air, and was sputtering out the best he could make into a response but then he realized the blonde was already walking away. And he was now holding a stick. _What just happened!?_


	4. Chapter 4

"Claire, you work so hard all by yourself," complimented the blacksmith apprentice, focusing on the silver chain his grandfather tasked him to fix. He realized he was going to have to ask his grandpa for help, already turning to him, when he noticed the girl. The words had just slipped out, looking at the sole person restoring the old farm to its former status. The smile he received was worth the blush dusting his cheeks.

"Thanks, Gray. But I could say the same about you," she said, still smiling. Yeah, he could get used to this. "But if you want me to, I can help you with working hard."

"What do you mean?"

"I can get you worked up and hard."

Yeah, Gray was never going to be nice ever again.


End file.
